Ash searched the castle for everything and found something very interesting: the living environment of the demigods was very simple, even worse than that of Broken Lake Prison.

He didn't believe that demigods were all practicing asceticism and didn't like to enjoy life. The only reason could be that they were under tremendous pressure to survive and had no time to care about material enjoyment.

But "Wind Erosion" is a major force in the first level of hell, with thirteen demigods and a tribe of rain demons in charge. Shouldn't they have an easy life in hell?

While Ash was thinking, Death Maniac suddenly pointed out the hidden compartment embedded in the back of the treasure chest: "You missed the most important treasure."

Ash opened the secret compartment and found a black...sticker in the satin box?

"It is this thing indeed." Death Maniac raised his eyebrows, "For a demigod, this is indeed the most important thing."

"What's this?"

"Fate."

Ash was startled.

Death Maniac explained: "Did Vishi tell you that demigods face challenges every once in a while?"

Ash nodded, "She said that a demigod must be welcomed every three hundred days."

"Now there are 365 days, and the interval between disasters is consistent with the interval between the operation of the world. In her era, a year was 300 days." Death Maniac said: "For most demigods, disasters are extremely dangerous checkpoints, so there is also the term 'year end'."

"Disasters are often miracles of other demigods. Demigods above the fifth level of Hell Wings may even encounter disasters of God Lord-level miracles. There are two ways to easily pass through disasters. One is to give up all your Hell Wings. As long as you don't steal the knowledge of the Void Realm, the Void Realm won't bother you. The other is to consume disasters."

"Every time a demigod passes through a catastrophe, there will be an extra catastrophe on the back of his hand. The catastrophe has many uses, but the most important use is--"

Death Maniac glanced at Ash and said, "Travel through the upper and lower levels of hell."

"For example, going from the first level of hell to the second level of hell consumes two calamities. Going from the second level to the third level consumes three calamities, and so on."

"But on the other hand, if you want to return from the fifth level of hell to the fourth level of hell, you only need to consume four calamities. If you want to return from the second level to the first level, you need to consume one calamity."

"To put it simply, the level of hell you want to go to is the same as the number of calamities you have to go through."

Ash thought for a moment, "Theoretically, as long as a demigod survives for 14 years, he can reach the fifth level of hell?"

"From the first to the fifth level, a total of 2+3+4+5=14 calamities are consumed. Because there are calamities every year, it takes a demigod 14 years to collect enough calamities."

"Yes, but no one would waste it like this." Death Maniac shook his head: "Because the second purpose of calamity is to offset disasters."

"A demigod of the first level of Hell Wing needs three calamities to offset the next disaster; a demigod of the second level of Hell Wing needs six, a demigod of the third level of Hell Wing needs nine, a demigod of the fourth level of Hell Wing needs twelve, and a demigod of the fifth level of Hell Wing needs fifteen."

"Demigods always have downturns or are unable to resolve disasters. Without a way out, demigods will have no choice but to die."

"Many demigods would rather maintain one level of prison wing because it is easy to consume the calamity and save their lives."

Ash understood. Calamity is both a passport to hell and an epitaph to hell. The weaker a demigod is, the easier it is to survive, but the more he wants to get close to power, the easier it is to be crushed by calamity.

"Then the demigods shouldn't waste their time going to the upper hell, right?" Ash asked, "What's in the upper hell?"

"More resources, and..." Death Maniac exhaled a puff of smoke, "Gods will be born in Hell. The fifth level has the highest probability, and the first level has almost none."

Ash nodded in understanding and looked at the calamity in the box. "Then where did this calamity come from? Can a demigod transfer a calamity?"

"Yes, but there is a very strange condition."

Death Maniac raised his eyebrows and said, "A demigod can only take it off if it is the last calamity for the demigod. If it is a demigod of the second level of Hell Wings, he can take the last two, the third level can take the last three, and so on."

Only the final catastrophe can take it off?

Ash's eyebrows twitched wildly when he heard this - I'm afraid only gamblers who are short of money and crazy will take off their last calamity. Once the last calamity is lost, it means that the disaster cannot be offset for at least three years, and you can only rely on yourself to get through it.

"Among the hard currencies traded by demigods, source crystals have the lowest value, while calamities have the highest value. If the calamities are of multiple magnitude, the value will increase exponentially." Death Maniac raised three fingers, "Generally speaking, eight calamities can buy a god."

Ash looked down at the robbery in the box and asked, "How do I use it?"

"Stick it on the back of your hand." The Death Maniac replied.

Ash placed the jet-black sticker on the back of his hand, and it immediately transformed into an eye-shaped pattern, with colorful mist emanating from every mark.

He studied it for a long time, and suddenly remembered something: "The marks on the backs of Jian Ji's hands..."

"That is a gift from the Four Pillars to them, to help them communicate with the guardian spirits in Hell." Death Maniac shook off the ashes: "It can be used as a calamity, but the price is... the difficulty of the next calamity will be doubled. There are many demigods who want to trade with the Four Pillars to quench their thirst, but only a few survive."

Ash asked, "Speaking of guardian spirits, are their guardian spirits dead?"

Death Maniac shook his head: "Of course not, their guardian spirits can fly, so they can retreat in time even in the first level of hell. Unlike the rain demons, they can only walk on the ground and walk slowly, so they can't even run away."

Ash pondered for a moment and raised his right hand. "So, I only need one more calamity to reach the second level of hell?"

Si Kuang leaned against the door frame, his blood-red hair fluttering in the wind: "That's right."

"So, how do you plan to get back the Aurora's Sorcerer's Manual?"

Ash looked at Death Maniac, "If giving up the Sorcerer's Manual can stop your threats, I am very happy to do so... provided that you can convince me of your sincerity."

After Death Maniac said he wanted to take back "Aurora's Sorcerer's Manual", he continued to take him to plunder the Hell Stronghold.

She didn't continue speaking, so Ash took this opportunity to think about his decision.

To be fair, he had no desire for the Sorcerer's Manual. Or rather, he had already gotten what he wanted, even though the Sorcerer's Manual contained the heritage of several civilizations, and he might even be able to extract a treasure of the level of the Refining Bottle, Ash had no regrets.

Even without the magician's manual, he already has companions who can support each other and the power to fight against fate.

What's more, the magician manual was not theirs in the first place, but the result of the death madness and the others' experience in countless world lines. They wanted to take it back, and Ash had no objection.

Death Maniac walked to the center of the fortress, looked up at the towering spear-pointed monument, and said slowly: "Do you think I will offer you a deal? No, I will only give you an option."

"These wonders are all high-level wonders, put them away."

Ash nodded and put the fortress's spearpoint monument, eagle statue, and lightning carving into the Soul Heaven.

The Spear-Tip Monument is the wonder "Gladiator Monument". When activated, a dirt wall will rise at the edge of the area, and any unit that approaches the dirt wall will be pierced by the armor-piercing spears;

The flying eagle statue is the wonder "Thunderbird Transformation", which shoots out an egg-shaped ball of thunder. The thunder will continuously strike all surrounding units. When the number of lightning strikes reaches 100 times, the thunder will be reborn into a thunderbird to assist in battle.

The most powerful lightning glyph is the wonder "Rain Demon Lair", which can instantly summon a Thunder Demon to participate in the battlefield. The Thunder Demon has dark claws and supersonic movement speed, and the body of thunder can be reborn infinitely. However, "Rain Demon Lair" is a consumable wonder. A rain demon will be born every once in a while. Once all the rain demon wonders in the lair are used up, it will naturally collapse.

It can be seen that most members of "Wind Erosion" use thunder magic as their core magic, so they were able to create two thunder magic wonders.

In the Soul Heaven, the spirits watched the wonders being moved in one after another, jumping on them curiously. Ash looked closely and found that the substitute spirit had moved the bed to the tower of the "overturned" wonder, and was sleeping soundly with the Heart Sword spirit in his arms, living a more comfortable life than him.

After Ash stuffed all the wonders into the Soul Heaven, Death Maniac suddenly asked, "If wonders can be hidden in the Temple of Magic, then where do you think the Aurora's Magician's Manual is hidden?"

Ash blinked, thought about it and suddenly realized that he really didn't know the answer.

It can't be the body, nor the soul. Ash has died several times in the virtual world. If the magician's manual is hidden in the soul and is accidentally bitten off by the fish-slaying dragon, then wouldn't the Doomsday Five have to train the fish-slaying dragon to the highest level of magic?

"I'll give you a hint." Death Maniac said, "When Vichy was reborn in the second round, what exactly did she go back to in the past?"

Ash was stunned. Yeah, what on earth did Vichy go back to the past?

It is clearly recorded in the "Ghost Manual" that after Vichy's rebirth, she still relies on killing to nourish her soul. This proves that she has indeed abandoned everything in her first week, went back to the upstream of time, and then seized her childhood soul and body, so everything has to start all over again.

"...Memory?" Ash guessed.

"Very close." Death Maniac said: "To be precise, it is a combination of all the information of a person. Your body will return to nature, and your soul will be buried in the virtual world, but only your memories, your thoughts, and your ideas, these things combined together form a unique 'consciousness'. The world can't take it away, and the virtual world can't take it away. It will always belong to you."

“When rules become conscious, gods are born; when techniques become conscious, magic spirits are born; when spirits and flesh become conscious, the mind is born.”

"Aurora's Sorcerer's Manual has always been on your mind."

Ash's heart sank, "You want to take my Mind Separation Master's Manual?"

"No, we can't do that." Death Maniac shook his head: "In order to prevent Ouroboros from chasing us to the greatest extent, we will integrate all the permissions of the Sorcerer's Manual into your mind, making it completely yours. This way, Ouroboros will not notice the abnormality of the world line."

"Besides, we never intended to separate the magician's manual." She said calmly: "There is no need."

Ash: "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, we want to get the magician's manual back, and we won't give up your bodies either." Death Maniac glanced at him, "By that time, will there be any need for your mind to exist?"

Ash almost laughed out of anger: "Then why should I return the magician's manual to you?"

"Because the magician manual contains our accumulation over the years. Without it, we can't return to our heyday in the shortest time." Death Maniac said calmly: "This time Ouroboros chased us and we lost, but if we get all the resources back, maybe we can continue to escape and try again. If you don't give it back, then there will really be no hope."

"But I don't intend to blackmail you morally." Death Maniac noticed Ash's livid face, "Anyway, you will take the initiative to give us your heart no matter what."

"Why?"

"Because you also want to defeat Ouroboros and save your own fate." Death Maniac said, "The problem is, even if you were given all the resources of Hell and became the most powerful demigod magician of all time, how much effect could you exert with this strength?"

You hit the nail on the head.

Yes, Ash can condense one level of Hell Wings in one day, but even if he is allowed to condense six levels of Hell Wings, and the Soul Heaven is filled with celestial wonders and gods, can he use this power well?

The opponent was not a small fish, but an eight-winged creature that surpassed the highest level of magic, the World Devouring Serpent. If it could be overcome by simply piling up materials, then the Doomsday Five would have already piled it to death.

"We are willing to give you four chances." Death Maniac said, "For every 25% of your soul you give, we will send one person to merge with you, allowing you to temporarily fight at the highest level of magic. For every additional 25% you give, the degree of fusion will increase, and your magic level will naturally increase dramatically."

"Sacrificing your heart will not affect your combat power. Your soul, body, magic spirit, and soul kingdom will not be damaged. Even if you sacrifice 75% of your heart, it will not affect your life."

"If you can defeat Ouroboros in the first three chances, we will have nothing to say. But if you still can't do it after three times..." Death Maniac raised his swan-like neck and looked up into the sky, exhaling a puff of white smoke: "We will give you two options."

"One option is to wait for death and be buried with this world."

"The other option is to give us your heart, then die and wait for the world to bury you."

Ash also looked up. There was no sky here, and the ups and downs were reversed at any time. Everything in the world was hanging upside down. There was a sense of crisis that it was about to be crushed at any moment. Living in such an environment was indeed like hell.

After a while, he said faintly: "It sounds like this is just an option."

"Aren't you used to it yet?" Death Maniac said calmly, "Sometimes, the world doesn't have a good ending. You can only choose the less bad one between two bad endings."